Blogs/News/PSAs

Webinar on 4/29 – Register Now!
Promoting Mental and Behavioral Health Resources to Help Children and Teens Enroll in Coverage and Access Care

The Connecting Kids to Coverage National Campaign Invites You to Attend a Webinar:

Promoting Mental and Behavioral Health Resources to Help Children and Teens Enroll in Coverage and Access Care

Thursday, April 29, 2021
2:00 p.m. – 3:30 p.m. ET

Medicaid and the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) cover essential mental and behavioral health services for kids and teens. For Mental Health Awareness Month, observed in May, the Connecting Kids to Coverage National Campaign (the Campaign) webinar will cover the current landscape of mental health service usage among children and teens, as well as offer ideas organizations can use to help children and teens in their communities access these important mental and behavioral health services.

Prior to the COVID-19 public health emergency, as many as 1 in 6 U.S. children between the ages of 6 and 17 had a treatable mental health disorder. With additional stressors, such as lack of routine and virtual learning, there has been a surge of anxiety and depression in young people since the start of the pandemic. Despite this surge, mental health services declined sharply among children age 18 and under. Although delivery of care via telehealth has helped connect children to important mental health services, data has shown that many children and teens are still not getting the care they need.

Join this webinar for the latest data on the use of mental health services, hear what partners are doing to help connect children to care, and learn about resources your organization can use in outreach and enrollment efforts. Learn about the Campaign’s many resources to promote mental and behavioral health on InsureKidsNow.gov, which include a digital video, social media, text messages, and newsletter articles.

Webinar speakers feature:

• Melinda Baldwin, Chief of the Center for Mental Health Services at the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA)
• Kim Proctor, Technical Director, Data and Systems Group, Center for Medicaid & CHIP Services, Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS)
• Jamie Poslosky, Senior Director, Advocacy Communications, American Academy of Pediatrics
• Gillian Ray, Vice President External Relations, Children’s Hospital Association
• Kelly English, PhD, LICSW, Director of the Children’s Behavioral Health Knowledge Center, Child, Youth, & Family Services Division, Massachusetts Department of Mental Health
• Darshana Panchal, MPH, Outreach Contractor, Connecting Kids to Coverage National Campaign, Porter Novelli Public Services

REGISTER HERE

We Want to Hear from You!
The Campaign wants to hear how organizations like yours are helping to connect children and teens to mental and behavioral health services. Send us an email at ConnectingKids@cms.hhs.gov. And visit our website to access slides and recordings from previous Campaign webinars._­­­­

Stay Connected with the Campaign 

• Share our Campaign materials. Our ever-growing, multi-lingual Outreach Tool Library features a variety of targeted resources to use in your outreach and enrollment efforts, available in multiple formats.
• Contact us. To get more involved with the Campaign, contact us via email at ConnectingKids@cms.hhs.gov.
• Follow the Campaign on Twitter. Remember to re-tweet or share our messages from @IKNGov with your social network and be sure to use our #Enroll365 and #KidsEnroll hashtags in your posts.

Subscribe to the “Campaign Notes” eNewsletter
The Connecting Kids to Coverage National Campaign eNewsletter “Campaign Notes” is distributed throughout the year and provides updates on Campaign activities. If a friend or colleague forwarded this email to you, we invite you to sign up to receive this eNewsletter directly to your inbox.

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS)

To contact CMS, please visit our contact us page.